One Step at a Time
by SadieGirl18
Summary: Right after The Reckoning. . .Short one-shot with Chloe and Derek. It's simple and sweet. Please READ and REVIEW, and I'll forever be grateful! Thanks a bunches- Anastasia!


**Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. **

**A/N: Yeah, I'm super tired right now, but I decided to write this short little one-shot, and it might not be the best. But please Read and Review and tell me what you think! **

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**One Step at a Time  
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We were on the road. . .again.

I sat in the back seat with Derek and Tori, in between them actually, while Mr. Bae and Aunt Lauren sat up front, and Simon sat in the middle seat with all the luggage. Tori wanted to sit in the middle instead of being in the back squashed with Derek and I, but all the stuff wouldn't fit back here with us.

She grumbled the whole entire way from Canada to Minnesota.

It had been only a few days since we fought the Edison Group, and we've been traveling most of the time. Derek and I had barely any time alone together at all, not that we've tried very hard- well at least Derek hadn't.

Ever since we kissed, he's been a little _off_.

Distance mostly.

In the past few days we've barely exchanged more than ten words at a time. We were closer before when we were just friends. Not that I'm saying we weren't friends now. . .I just thought we could have been more. _I _wanted us to be more, and I've been trying to get him alone to talk about it, but every chance I get he'd either be off with Simon, or talking to his dad, or even chatting with Aunt Lauren.

Yeah, I _know_. He'd rather talk to my aunt than _me_.

When we stopped at a gas station, everyone loaded themselves out of the van, with me being the last one to hop out. I sighed when I realized that everyone else was already in the store buying snacks.

I wasn't even hungry, just a bit car sick. Leaning against the van door I looked out at the parking lot as it started to drizzle. It didn't bother me though, I found the coolness from the water relaxing.

"Hey."

I jumped, practically tripping over my own two feet and stumbling, and would have fell too if a warm large hand hadn't reached out and steadied me.

I placed a hand to my erratically beating heart. "God, Derek you scared me."

He didn't laugh like he normally would have, just stared at me, giving me this weird look that he started making every time I talked to him now. It was a look that sort of gave off the feeling that he thought you were weird. It was how he looked at me, like _I_ was weird.

"What?" I sighed, feeling suddenly so tired of all these games that I played to get him to talk to me.

"Are you alright?" He asked gruffly, eyeing me. He seemed impatient though, like he was waiting for something. I even noticed his foot tapping on the ground.

"I'm fine," I snapped and then folded my arms across my chest, and stared at him as his face fell a little. I softened my voice just a fraction. "You might as well get it over with already."

"Get what over with?" Derek asked, slightly baffled.

The rain was coming down a bit harder, but I welcomed it even when my hair was getting damper than I would have liked it to. I bit my lip and studied him for a minute before speaking. And then suddenly when the frustration became too much I threw my hands up in the air. "I don't know! I have no clue what you want from me, Derek. We kissed! And I thought that maybe. . .maybe you wanted to be with me," I whispered the last part looking down at the ground as huge raindrops made a _splat _noise every time it hit the asphalt. "But you don't right?"

I heard a faint strangling noise come from his mouth, before I saw the white of his shoes as he stood in front of me. I felt the warmth of his hand when he placed it under my chin, tilting it upward, to make me look at his eyes as he looked back in mine with a surprised emotion written all over his face. But he covered it well, and ran his other hand through his hair before speaking. "God, Chloe," he said, and groaned in frustration. "I'm not good at this stuff. I have no clue what so ever about what I'm doing, which is sort of insane because Simon is the total opposite." He gave me a measured look before dropping his hand from my chin and taking a step back. "Maybe you'd be better off. . .with him. With Simon, he'd-"

"What are you saying, Derek?" I whispered fiercely, and squinting through the rain as it blurred my vision. "You don't want me?"

"No! I'm not- I don't mean it like that. Not at all. Of course I want you, Chloe." He took a step forward again, but didn't touch me. "I just. . .I'm not good enough- And don't try to convince me otherwise. Your good, naturally you're a good person without even trying, it's just who you are. But _me_? I have to try to stay in control all the time- I have to be careful what I say and do, and with maintaining my temper. You don't need to be involved with something like that. You don't need to be with _someone_ like that."

I scoffed and glared at him. "What is the matter with you!" I shouted, which is completely unlike me and gave him a slight shove. "What do I have to do, Derek to prove to you that I want you? That I want to be with _you_, and only you! Not Simon and not some other guy! Just you."

Derek's eyes widened- at my outburst and probably my words too, considering I never said things like this-, making his glowing green eyes look huge. "Chloe, I just. . . I just want you to know what you're going to have to deal with. To be absolutely positive this is what you want. That _I'm_ the one you want, even with all my. . .imperfections. Because I have plenty of them, and I don't know how- I don't even know how to be close to you."

My heart sort of tugged at that comeback. It was sweet in a very Derek sort of way. And I sighed for what had to have been the millionth time, before reaching out and tugging his arms around my waist, while leaning my head against his shoulder. He tensed momentarily, before tightening his arms around me and pressing a kiss to my head. The warmth helped with the coldness that was settling over us with the rain that was starting to slow leaving a hint of fog and chillness in the air.

I could already hear everyone else coming out of the gas station and heading our way, for the van. Aunt Lauren and Mr. Bae discussing strategy in case we needed a quick escape. Simon and Tori arguing about who was going to have to sit in the back this time.

I ignored them and pressed myself closer to Derek. "We'll take things slow. One step at a time. But right now. . .this is enough," I breathed out contently.

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**AA/N: Probably not so great. . . But I'm really tired and I'm not even sure why I even wrote this one-shot, but Please Review! Thanks- Anastasia!**


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